News of religious/ethical change,
conflict and/or intolerance

2009-September

Events:

2009-SEP-01: AZ: Minister prays for President Obama's death:
Pastor Steven Anderson delivered a sermon to his Faithful Word Baptist Church
in Tempe, AZ titled: "Why I hate Barak Obama." He seems to be
dabbling in black magic by allegedly asked his
parishioners to join him in praying for Obama's death. He said:

"I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die
like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today."

"I'm gonna pray that he dies and goes to hell when I go to bed tonight.
That's what I'm gonna pray."

"I will not take the law into my own hands. I will not take up any arms.
It's a spiritual battle, spiritual warfare."

The sermon has led to death threats against Anderson, and motivated a small
group of demonstrators to gather around his church on AUG-30.

A member of his congregation, Christopher Broughton, allegedly carried an
AR-15 assault rifle outside the
Phoenix arena where President Obama spoke on AUG-17.

Apparently, Pastor
Anderson disagrees with the method by which President Obama proposes to reduce
the abortion rate in the U.S.

The report in FOXNews produced 688 comments within 3 days. 1,2

2009-SEP-01: CO: Financial difficulties at
Focus on the Family continue: Focus on the Family is a very
influential Colorado-based fundamentalist Christian organizationIn the
fall of 2008, they eliminated more than 200 staff positions -- the largest
layoff in their history. Because of continued financial problems, they have
laid off an additional 75 employees and will not fill 57 vacant positions.
Estimates show that they will miss their $138 million budget by 5% for the
fiscal year ending in September. 3

2009-SEP-04: Court rebukes Bush administration:
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals said that the federal
government's treatment of material witnesses after 9/11 was: "...repugnant
to the Constitution and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious
chapters of our national history.''

The case had been filed against former Attorney General John Ashcroft
by Abdullah al-Kidd, a citizen of the U.S. and a former student at the
University of Idaho. He argued that the government detained him and many other
Muslims and Arabs even though there was insufficient evidence to charge them
with a crime. He was detained as a material witness for two weeks
during 2003, and then released. He claimed that this caused the loss of a scholarship to study in
Saudi Arabia, lost employment opportunities and the destruction of his marriage.

The
court ruling negated the "qualified immunity" automatically given to government officials.
Richard Seamon, a professor at the University of Idaho College of Law and a
former assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, said:

''It's a very big ruling, because qualified immunity is ordinarily a very
robust form of protection. To overcome that immunity, you have to show that
the defendant almost deliberately acted unconstitutionally to violate
someone's rights -- no innocent mistakes." 4

2009-SEP-08: Korea: Pastor promises to end
swine flu in Israel overnight: Dr. Jaerock Lee. an evangelical preacher
has promised to perform signs and wonders including eradicating the swine flu
virus from Israel overnight. He has allegedly claimed to sit at the throne of
God, command angels, and performed every miracle in the Bible except for one:
walking on water.

Johnny Kim, the director general of Manmin TV, said: "Dr. Lee obeys God, and
God has blessed [him] with these powers. He is not different than any other
man, only in his devotion." 5

References used:

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